An Unexpected Surprise
by NightKitty666
Summary: Tag to s8e24 - In the aftermath of the Replicator's attempted attack on the BAU, Garcia discovers a secret that two members of the team were hoping to keep to themselves


Garcia sighed as she filed another lot of photos into the cabinet. Ever since they'd solved the Replicator case, she'd been stuck printing off the photos he'd taken and sorting them into neat piles for future reference. Right now, she was working through the ones that he'd sent to her computer when he hacked in. There were dozens of Hotch outside Beth's apartment, Morgan at the British Embassy event, Rossi with Strauss and countless others. As the paper heaped up on her desk, she sighed and mumbled to no one in particular, "there must be an easier way to do this without wasting so many trees." Thumbing through another stack of photos, she began to hum absentmindedly, but stopped abruptly when a particular photo caught her eye.

"Woah," she breathed, confused and bewildered. She couldn't quite believe that what she was seeing was real, but her expert eye could detect no traces of Photoshop in the image. She picked it up and traced a finger over the figures she could see in it, unsure on how to react to her new discovery. She knew she would have to tell the team about this, but how?

Just then, there was a light knock on her office door, before Morgan entered and said in a cheerful voice, "hey, Baby Girl, you ready to go?" Garcia was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear him. "Garcia?" he called again, this time catching her attention.

"Huh?" She turned around, startled.

"Are you ready to go? The movie starts in fifteen minutes."

"Ah, okay, yes, the movie," she stammered, trying to get her thoughts together.

"Hey, what's up with you? Is everything okay?"

Garcia sighed before replying, "no, not really. Morgan, come look at this." As he moved closer, she held out the picture for him to take, which he did hastily. His eyes scanned the image and widened as he took in its content.

"Is that..."

"Yes. Morgan, what do we do about this?" Without replying, Morgan turned, photo in hand, and walked briskly out of the room. "Derek?" Garcia called after him before getting up and following him quickly. Morgan headed straight into the bullpen, scanning the room for the man he needed to talk to. Locating him at his desk, he stormed up to him and slammed the photo down in front of him.

"What the hell is this?"

"What the hell is what?" the other agent asked, flustered.

"This!" Morgan pointed to the picture. "What the hell is this, Reid?"

Reid's eyes slid down from his bewildered colleague's face to the photo in front of him, and the sight of it made his stomach lurch. He couldn't believe that this had been captured on camera. And where had this photo come from? How had his team gained access to one of the most private moments of his life? "Where, uh, where did you get this?" he asked nervously, unable to hide the slight tremor in his voice.

"From the Replicator," answered Garcia quietly, coming up behind Morgan. "It was one of the ones he sent to my computer." She took a moment to brace herself for the question she was about to ask. Finally, she said, "Reid, is this real?"

The younger agent hung his head and, staring at the floor, replied, "yes." Morgan let out an angry sigh, staring at his colleague in shock. He didn't understand how this event had come about, but he was sure as hell going to find out.

"Reid," he began, "how? How did this happen?"

"I don't know," mumbled the younger agent, feeling very uncomfortable with the road this conversation was going down.

"You don't know?" Morgan replied sarcastically, anger seeping into every word. "How can you not know, Reid?" Reid simply shrugged in return, words failing him for the first time in a long while. "Come on, kid, I need an actual answer here!" Morgan didn't know why this was making him so outraged, he just couldn't stand people keeping secrets of this magnitude from him.

Meanwhile, in Hotch's office, the Unit Chief had put down his work to listen to the voices coming from the bullpen. At first, they had sounded normal, as if engaged in the usual type of conversation, but in the last minute or so the tone had changed. Morgan was getting agitated, Reid was becoming withdrawn, and Hotch could tell that something was wrong. He made his way out of his office and onto the little balcony to survey what was happening between his teammates.

"What's going on out here?" he asked bluntly as Rossi, too, noticed the bullpen's shifting mood and emerged from his office to assess the scene. Morgan's gaze drifted to his superior and Hotch could see the fire in his eyes; he felt more than a little unsettled when he found that fire being directed at him. "Morgan, what's the matter?"

"What's the matter, Hotch? What's the matter?" He grabbed the photo off of Reid's desk and stormed up to Hotch. "This is the matter." He shoved the picture into his boss' hands, and Hotch took a moment to study it carefully before looking back up at Morgan. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Reid giving him a desperate look, but knew it was too late. Their secret was out, they might as well face up to it.

"So, you know," Hotch said steadily.

"Damn right we know," replied the other agent. "Were you ever planning on telling us?"

Hotch took a minute to form his reply. "No, but not because we didn't trust you."

Morgan looked extremely unconvinced. "Oh? Why not then?"

"Because if this ever got back to the director, he'd fire us both at once. If he ever found out that Reid and I had... kissed..." He stopped, not needing to explain any more. That photo was proof that he had ignored every fraternisation rule in the book and kissed his subordinate. That photo had the power to ruin not only his career in the Bureau, but Reid's as well. He didn't know how the Replicator had managed to take that photo, but he did know that it could never leave the team if he and Reid wanted to keep their jobs.

"So," Rossi spoke up for the first time, "you and Reid kissed?" Both agents nodded slowly, still trying to gauge their teammates' reactions to this news. "Ah," continued Rossi. "When?"

Hotch sighed, not looking forward to the interrogation from his friends, before replying, "the first time must have been around five months ago."

"Woah woah woah woah," objected Morgan. "The first time? You mean this has happened more than once?"

"Well what do you expect from two people in love?" Hotch retorted before fully considering the impact of his words.

Reid bit his lip in anticipation as silence fell over the bullpen. Everyone just stood staring at Hotch and Reid blankly. The silence was finally broken by JJ, who had heard Hotch's last statement from the hall, as she came cheerily into the room and said chirpily, "so, Hotch is in love? Who's the mystery woman?"

Hotch's face fell as his teammates turned to face the new arrival to the conversation. Reid shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Rossi shot a sideways glance at Hotch, a small smirk creeping onto his face. He'd suspected the relationship long ago, so he was enjoying the two awkwardly explaining it to everyone else.

JJ looked at her colleagues' faces in confusion, not understanding their reserved silence or their curious expressions. "What's going on?" she asked half playfully, half concerned.

"Let's just say the mystery woman is not a woman," Rossi answered vaguely, JJ's expression turning to one of shock. "Also, I'm pretty sure you've met him before." He smiled at his teasing responses, taking immense pleasure in winding up his teammate.

"I... I don't understand," JJ said at last. "Who are you talking about?" She watched Rossi's face as his gaze redirected towards their resident genius and his eyebrows lifted indicatively. JJ's eyes widened. "Reid?" she asked, stunned.

Reid and Hotch both nodded slowly in unison. JJ stood silently for a minute before breaking into a huge smile. "That's fantastic. I'm so happy for you two." She ran over to give Reid a hug.

"Wait, what?" cried Morgan. "You're not mad at them?!"

"Why would I be?"

"Because they didn't tell us! We found out through a photo the Replicator sent to Garcia."

JJ shrugged. "It's their business if they want to keep it to themselves. You know I didn't want you guys finding out about me and Will for over a year."

Morgan couldn't really find a fault in her argument, so he stayed silent and watched JJ continue with her hug. Reid smiled at her as she finally moved away.

"Thank you for understanding," he said quietly.

"Aw, don't worry about it, Spence. I'm just glad that finally something good happened in this building."

"Yeah, I'm with her," Garcia finally piped up. "I wasn't mad, I promise. I was just a little, well, shocked, but I am definitely behind you guys with this." She grinned and moved over to Reid to give him a hug of her own.

Hotch smiled and glanced over at Rossi, who gave him a sly smile. "I, uh, I kind of already knew," he said with a small shrug. When Hotch raised an eyebrow at him, he added, "what? I'm good at my job."

Hotch laughed before turning his attention back to his subordinates gathered below. Morgan was the only one who still wore an unamused expression. "Morgan," he called. "Are you going to be okay with this?"

Morgan's face softened slightly as he turned to face his boss. "Yeah, I guess. It'll take a while to get used to it, and I still wish you'd told me sooner, but... yeah, we're good. Just don't do anything to hurt him. I'm warning you." His tone was mostly playful but with hints of a serious threat.

Hotch smiled warmly at Reid and replied, "don't worry. I won't." Reid smiled back at Hotch, the urge to kiss the man he loved building inside of him. As if reading his thoughts, Hotch strode down the balcony steps and across the room to his desk, offering out a hand to help Reid up. When the younger agent was on his feet, Hotch leaned forward to plant a quick kiss on his lips. This elicited a giggle from Garcia, a smile from JJ, a sigh from Rossi and a groan from Morgan, who muttered something about public displays of affection under his breath.

Reid just stood there grinning at his boss, before glancing at the clock and asking, "do you wanna go grab some lunch?"

Hotch nodded and the two headed out of the bullpen, JJ calling, "take your time!" after them.


End file.
